Bloomberg mishandles New York City marathon controversy

NEW YORK (AP) — Mayor Michael Bloomberg tried to sell the New York City Marathon as a symbolic victory for the city after a devastating storm, invoking two of the biggest symbols of them all — Rudy Giuliani and 9/11.

The former mayor, Bloomberg said, made the right decision by holding the marathon less than two months after the 2001 terror attacks: "It pulled people together, and we have to find some ways to express ourselves and show our solidarity with each other."

Then, he kept talking.

"You have to keep going and doing things, and you can grieve, you can cry and you can laugh all at the same time," he said.

And once again, the city cringed, hearing another false note that renewed familiar criticism that New York's billionaire businessman mayor is tone-deaf to suffering during a crisis. By the time Bloomberg changed course three hours later Friday and called off the world's largest marathon, he already had offended a passel of flood-weary New Yorkers.

"He is clueless without a paddle to the reality of what everyone else is dealing with," fumed Joan Wacks, whose waterfront condo in Staten Island was under 4 feet of water. "He's supposed to be the mayor of all the city, but he's really the mayor of Manhattan."

It was a rare reversal for Bloomberg, who's known for sticking by his decisions, however unpopular. He's built a reputation for being an efficient, independent-minded pragmatist in office, a philanthropist and public health innovator, and he has gotten praise for the city's preparedness for the storm.

In his first comments Saturday since canceling the race, Bloomberg continued to defend his belief that the event could have gone on but conceded the controversy had become a distraction.

"I still think that we had the resources to do both," Bloomberg told WCBS-TV during a visit to Queens. "There are lots of people in this city — some hurt, some not. It's a big part of our economy."

"But it was just becoming so divisive that whether it's a good idea or not, we just don't need the distraction."

To the people who came from all over the world for the race, Bloomberg said he would tell them: "I'm sorry. I fought the battle, and sometimes things don't work out."

As the mayor was speaking, he was met by catcalls from Queens residents angry about the city's response to the storm.

It was not the first time that the mayor has seemed out of synch with the people he leads.

There was the post-Christmas blizzard that dumped 2 feet of snow on the city in 2010, when the mayor raised hackles by encouraging New Yorkers to enjoy the snow or see a Broadway show to help the city's economy. Residents said the mayor failed to appreciate the outer-borough New Yorkers stranded by snow drifts that hadn't been plowed, unable and without the money to go to the theater.

There was a long-running feud about Sept. 11 victims' remains that were recovered in downtown Manhattan five years after the attacks. A victim's family member, Diane Horning, said then that the mayor indicated he didn't identify with families wanting their loved ones' remains because he wanted to donate his body to science.

Bloomberg was branded an out-of-touch, big-business cheerleader when he said Con Edison's chairman "deserves a thanks from this city" amid a 10-day blackout that affected 174,000 people in parts of Queens in July 2006.

"Going after the CEO just because somebody wants to have somebody to blame doesn't make a lot of sense," Bloomberg said as the outage was in its eighth sweltering day. The remark raised eyebrows, even among the politicians standing behind the mayor at a news briefing.

All this week, the mayor kept returning to economics when defending his decision to keep the marathon going. Officials said the marathon brings in $340 million; it was unclear how much the city still stands to get from the thousands of runners already in town.

"For those who were lost," he said earlier this week, "you've got to believe they would want us to have an economy and have a city go on."

Before Friday's cancellation, Bloomberg had faced criticism from everyone from sanitation workers unhappy that they had volunteered to help storm victims but were assigned to the race, to police union leaders, to the Manhattan borough president to his ally, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

Melanie Bright, who went three days without electricity and hot water, said the mayor didn't get it. "He feels like we should carry on with our lives, even though people have lost everything," she said.

In a sign of how swiftly the tide turned, City Hall told local officials well into midafternoon Friday that the race was on, according to a person familiar with the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss behind-the-scenes conversations.

Ultimately, though, Bloomberg relented and canceled the event.

"We cannot allow a controversy over an athletic event — even one as meaningful as this — to distract attention away from all the critically important work that is being done to recover from the storm," he said.

The decision quickly drew praise from some of the same officials who had slammed the marathon schedule hours earlier. The mayor made a "sensitive and prudent decision that will allow the attention of this city to remain focused on its recovery," said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.

But for Eddie Kleydman, motioning toward huge piles of ruined furniture in his Staten Island street, the mayor's last-minute change of heart wasn't enough.

"He's worried about the marathon. I'm worried about getting power," Kleydman said. "So he called it off. He has to come here and help us clean."

___

Associated Press writers Leanne Italie, Christine Rexrode and Michael Rubinkam contributed to this report.

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Gunmen kill 18 in bus attack in southwest Pakistan

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Gunmen riding on two motorcycles opened fire on a bus at a small fuel station in southwest Pakistan on Friday, igniting a massive blaze and leaving 18 dead, a Pakistani official said.

Abdul Mansoor Kakar said all 16 people on the bus, including eight women and three children, were killed and the bodies badly burned. The vehicle had been parked next to fuel drums that ignited during the attack, starting a fire that engulfed the bus and killed two in a nearby car.

The attack took place in the town of Khuzdar in the province of Baluchistan.

No one claimed responsibility and the motive of the attack was unclear, Kakar said, adding that the incident was under investigation but no arrests were made.

Khuzdar is located 300 kilometers (180 miles) south of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province. The region has experienced a decades-long insurgency by nationalists who demand greater autonomy and a larger share of the province's natural resources.

The province is also thought to be home to many Afghan Taliban militants.

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Google's Android software in 3 out of 4 smartphones

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Songs offer messages of hope at Sandy benefit show

NEW YORK (AP) — From "Living On a Prayer" to "Living Proof," every song Friday at NBC's benefit concert for superstorm Sandy victims became a message song.

Hosted by Matt Lauer and featuring performances by Christina Aguilera, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen, the hourlong event was heavy on stars and lyrics identified with New Jersey and the New York metropolitan area, which took the brunt of this week's deadly storm. The telethon was a mix of music, storm footage and calls for donations from Jon Stewart, Tina Fey, Whoopi Goldberg and others.

The mood was somber but hopeful, from Aguilera's "Beautiful" to Bon Jovi's "Living On a Prayer" and a tearful Mary J. Blige's "Living Proof." Joel rocked out with "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)," a song born from crisis, New York City's near bankruptcy in the 1970s, while Jimmy Fallon gamely led an all-star performance of the Drifters' "Under the Boardwalk" that featured Joel, Springsteen and Steven Tyler. The Aerosmith frontman then sat behind a piano and gave his all on a strained but deeply emotional "Dream On." Sting was equally passionate during an acoustic, muscular version of the Police hit "Message In a Bottle."

The show ended, as it only could, with Springsteen and the E Street Band, tearing into "Land Of Hope and Dreams."

"God bless New York," Springsteen, New Jersey's beloved native son, said in conclusion. "God bless the Jersey shore."

The stable of NBC Universal networks, including USA, CNBC, MSNBC, E! Entertainment, The Weather Channel and Bravo, aired the concert live from the NBC studios in Rockefeller Center in midtown Manhattan, several blocks north of where the city went days without power.

NBC Universal invited other networks to televise the event, but not everyone signed on.

That might have something to do with network rivalries.

In the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the networks organized a benefit together behind the scenes and it was televised on more than 30 networks simultaneously, including all the big broadcasters.

After Hurricane Katrina, NBC televised its own benefit before the other broadcasters, one that became best known for Kanye West's off-script declaration that "George Bush doesn't care about black people." The other broadcasters cooperated on their own telethon a week later, and NBC televised that one, too.

Also this year, NBC organized and scheduled a telethon on its own and gave others the chance to air it.

Others declined to televise Friday's telethon, even though ABC parent Walt Disney Co. said it would donate $2 million to the American Red Cross and various ABC shows will promote a "Day of Giving" on Monday. The CBS Corp., Viacom Inc., parent of "Jersey Shore" network MTV, Fox network owner News Corp. also announced big donations to the Red Cross.

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Floods render NYC hospitals powerless

NEW YORK (AP) — There are few places in the U.S. where hospitals have put as much thought and money into disaster planning as New York. And yet two of the city's busiest, most important medical centers failed a fundamental test of readiness during Superstorm Sandy this week: They lost power.

Their backup generators failed, or proved inadequate. Nearly 1,000 patients had to be evacuated.

The closures led to dramatic scenes of doctors carrying patients down dark stairwells, nurses operating respirators by hand, and a bucket brigade of National Guard troops hauling fuel to rooftop generators in a vain attempt to keep the electricity on.

Both hospitals, NYU Langone Medical Center and Bellevue Hospital Center, were still trying to figure out exactly what led to the power failures Thursday, but the culprit appeared to be the most common type of flood damage there is: water in the basement.

While both hospitals put their generators on high floors where they could be protected in a flood, other critical components of the backup power system, such as fuel pumps and tanks, remained in basements just a block from the East River.

Both hospitals had fortified that equipment against floods within the past few years, but the water — which rushed with tremendous force — found a way in.

"This reveals to me that we have to be much more imaginative and detail-oriented in our planning to make sure hospitals are as resilient as they need to be," said Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

The problem of unreliable backup electricity at hospitals is nothing new.

Over the first six months of the year, 23 percent of the hospitals inspected by the Joint Commission, a health care facility accreditation group, were found to be out of compliance with standards for backup power and lighting, according to a spokesman.

Power failures crippled New Orleans hospitals after Hurricane Katrina. The backup generator failed at a hospital in Stafford Springs, Conn., after the remnants of Hurricane Irene blew through the state in 2011. Hospitals in Houston were crippled when Tropical Storm Allison flooded their basements and knocked out electrical equipment in 2001.

When the Northeast was hit with a crippling blackout in 2003, the backup power at several of New York City's hospitals failed or performed poorly. Generators malfunctioned or overheated. Fuel ran out too quickly. Even where the backup systems worked, they provided electricity to only some parts of the hospital and left others in the dark.

Afterward, a mayoral task force recommended upgrading testing standards for generators and requiring backup plans for blood banks and health care facilities that provide dialysis treatment.

Alan Aviles, president of New York City's Health and Hospitals Corp., which operates Bellevue, said that after a scare last summer when Hurricane Irene threatened to cause flooding, Bellevue put its basement-level fuel pumps in flood-resistant chambers.

It still isn't clear whether water breached those defenses, but when an estimated 17 million gallons of water rushed through loading docks and into the hospital's 1-million-square-foot basement, the fuel feed to the generators stopped working. The floodwaters also knocked out the hospital's elevators.

For two days, National Guardsmen carried fuel to the generators, but conditions inside the hospital for patients and staff deteriorated anyway. The generators were designed to supply only 30 percent of the usual electrical load at the hospital, leaving a lot of equipment and labs hobbled. The hospital also lost all water pressure on Tuesday. Nearly 700 patients had been evacuated by Thursday afternoon.

"The precautions we had taken to date had served us well," Aviles said. "But Mother Nature can always up the stakes."

NYU Langone Medical Center had also tried to armor itself against floods.

All seven of the generators providing backup power to the parts of the hospital involved in patient care are only a few years old and are on higher floors. The fuel tank is in a watertight vault. New fuel pumps were installed just this year in a pump house upgraded to withstand a high flood, said the hospital's vice president of facilities operation, Richard Cohen.

"The medical center invested quite a bit of money to upgrade the facility," he said.

The pump house remained "bone dry," Cohen said. But water shoved aside plastic and plywood defenses and infiltrated the fuel vault, where sensors detected the potentially damaging liquid and shut the generators down. "The force of the surge that came in was unbelievable. It dislodged our additional protection and caused a breach of the vault as well," Cohen said.

The power at NYU went out in a flash, leaving the staff scrambling to evacuate 300 patients with no notice.

Dr. Robert Berg, an obstetrician, said that when he lost power in his apartment, he went to the hospital to charge his cellphone and was stunned to find it in chaos.

"It didn't really occur to me that the hospital was going to be in trouble," he said. Even after finding the lobby dark, "I thought, 'We'll have power upstairs. We're an operating room.'"

He wound up carrying two patients down flights of stairs on a "med sled."

"There was a Category 1 outside and a Category 4 inside," he said. "I can't say that they were very well prepared for it."

That has left only one hospital, Beth Israel Medical Center, functioning in the southern third of Manhattan. It is also on backup power, but brought in two huge new generators Thursday, just in case.

Aviles said Bellevue might be out of commission for at least two more weeks. NYU Langone's generators are operating again, but the hospital is waiting for Consolidated Edison to restore its power before it starts taking patients again. That could happen in a matter of days.

Flooding may pose less of a danger to the hospital's power supply in the future. Construction is under way on a new power plant, at a cost of more than $200 million, that will run on natural gas and supply all the hospital's power needs.

"It's a tremendous facility, with a lot of hardening built into it," Cohen said.

___

AP Medical Writer Mike Stobbe contributed to this report.

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Bloomberg cancels marathon amid outcry

It's a good time to be a free agent in baseball. Josh Hamilton and Zack Greinke appear to be ready to cash in --> http://t.co/XC3i3dLF

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Fishing thwarts Antarctic marine sanctuary idea

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The countries that regulate fishing in the Antarctic were unable this week to agree on creating a giant marine sanctuary there.

At a meeting in Australia, the United States and New Zealand were rebuffed after submitting a joint proposal to protect the Ross Sea, which is considered one of the most pristine oceans in the world.

Scientists say an Alaska-sized sanctuary there would make an ideal place to monitor climate change away from the influence of man, while conservations say the thriving colonies of seals and penguins should be left alone. But fishing captains say their catch is relatively small and sustainable, and they want to keep the status quo.

The joint proposal would have banned fishing altogether in some areas and allowed modest fishing in others areas, reflecting an uneasy compromise between the groups.

But at the Australian meeting, some nations, including Russia, the Ukraine and China, balked at the proposal. They feared it would have too much impact on their annual haul of toothfish, which are marketed as Chilean sea bass. The 24 nations and the European Union finished two weeks of meetings late on Thursday night without coming to any agreement on the sanctuary proposal. The countries will meet again next July to further consider the idea.

"It's disappointing but not entirely surprising," said Murray McCully, New Zealand's minister of foreign affairs.

He said he plans to discuss the outcome soon with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has taken a close personal interest in the issue. McCully said that after the U.S. elections, he plans to devise a lobbying strategy with senior U.S. officials to try and get the proposal passed at the meeting next July.

Earlier this week, New Zealand and the U.S. finally resolved two years of negotiations over sanctuary boundaries and rules. The two nations had both advocated for a sanctuary and needed each other to give any proposal credibility. That's because New Zealand has fishing interests in the Ross Sea while the U.S. has scientific interests there.

At the Hobart meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, the 25 members also failed to agree on a second Antarctic reserve in the eastern part of the continent's oceans.

___

Follow Nick Perry on Twitter at http://twitter.com/nickgbperry

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Apple rolls out iPad mini in Sydney to shorter lines

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Little Big Town, Church take major wins at CMAs

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — After years of feeling like outsiders, Little Big Town and Eric Church finally found acceptance at the Country Music Association Awards.

Beloved veteran quartet Little Big Town was the early leader Thursday night during the awards, winning vocal group and single of the year for their breakthrough hit "Pontoon."

"Y'all, this has been a 13-year journey," Karen Fairchild said as members of the group fist-pumped, jumped up and down and shouted on stage. "We're living proof that if you work really hard and chase your dream, all the good stuff happens and it follows you. Nashville, you made us your band. Thank you for letting us do this."

Like LBT, Church was feeling the love from the CMA's voters for the first time. He won the prestigious album of the year for his breakthrough record "Chief," signaling his complete acceptance by the country music community.

"I spent a lot of my career wondering where I fit in — too country, too rock," Church told the crowd. "I want to thank you guys for giving me somewhere to hang my hat tonight."

The North Carolina native was this year's leading nominee, breaking through in prestigious categories for the first time. Yet no one was more surprised than Church, who said he certainly had no expectation of winning.

"Never, especially with our journey," Church said. "I mean our path's been a little bit different. I distinctly remember playing for eight people in Amarillo, Texas, four years ago, and to go from there to here is quite surreal."

It wasn't the surprise-filled night's only surreal moment. In one of the awards' most emotional moments in recent memory, husband and wife stars Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert won song of the year for "Over You."

As Lambert openly wept on stage, Shelton recounted for the ABC television audience how the loss of his older brother, Richie, and father, Dick, spurred the couple to write the heart-rending song.

"My dad always told me, 'Son, you should write a song about your brother,'" Shelton said. "I lost my dad in January, and it's so amazing to me that tonight, even after he's gone, he's still right. I just needed the right person to write this song with and the right person to sing it."

The night continued to get better for Shelton, who won male vocalist for the third straight year.

"I'm going to be totally honest: I've had a few drinks since the song of the year announcement," Shelton joked. "I was actually sitting there thinking either Jason or Eric was gonna win this, so I'm going to have wing it."

The awards went off-script early, and not just for Little Big Town. Thompson Square also earned an unexpected win, taking vocal duo of the year. The husband and wife duo of Keifer and Shawna Thompson ended Sugarland's five-year run in that category. That award has gone to either Sugarland or Brooks & Dunn 19 of the last 20 years.

"Ever since I was 5 years old, I used to practice in the kitchen with one of my Meemaw's Mason jars for this moment here," Shawna Thompson said.

Hunter Hayes won new artist of the year, while Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw won musical event of the year for "Party Like a Rock Star" and Toby Keith won video of the year for "Red Solo Cup."

Church helped kick off the show by combining forces with Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan. Playing with a large American flag behind them, the trio of performers teamed up on Aldean's new single "The Only Way I Know" from his new album "Night Train" and earned a standing ovation. Each returned later to play singles, showing how large a market share they now own in country music.

Co-hosts Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley opened the show with a country version of Maroon 5's "Moves Like Jagger": "We got moves like Haggard." They also did their own version of Psy's "Gangnam Style" and riffed on Swift's hit single "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," noting she is rumored to have recently broken up with boyfriend Conor Kennedy.

When Underwood informed him of the news they were unlikely to get back together, he asked: "Never?" Underwood responded, "Ever," and the two played verbal hot potato for a few seconds before Paisley ended the joke by saying, "Maybe Taylor will write a song about it."

They also poked a little fun at the night's honored guest, Willie Nelson, who was due to receive a lifetime achievement award and perform with McGraw, Faith Hill, Lady Antebellum and Blake Shelton.

"Tonight we are honoring the great Willie Nelson," Paisley said, "and also simultaneously we are going to strip you of all your CMA Awards. Sorry."

"Because Willie," Underwood said, "it appears there's been some doping charges."

"Guilty!" said Nelson, a noted marijuana advocate.

Most of country's top stars were on hand at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena for the celebration, with many slated to perform. Swift performed somber new single "Begin Again" on a set with a picture of the Eiffel Tower and falling leaves in the background. She received an ovation of her own.

McGraw debuted the single "One of Those Nights" from his new album "Two Lanes of Freedom." Lambert, dressed in a multi-colored bustier and leather pants, spun around on stage while performing her rockin' song "Fastest Girl in Town." The Band Perry delivered an energetic version of "Better Dig Two," complete with laser light show, and Paisley performed new single "Southern Comfort Zone," with an assist from the Brentwood Baptist choir.

Little Big Town performed their winner "Pontoon," a song that was something of a departure for Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Jimi Westbrook and Phillip Sweet. Produced by Jay Joyce, who's career started in the rock world and also produced Church's "Chief," the song has a sharper groove than LBT's previous efforts.

That song's hard edge reflects country's changing face and fan base.

From Swift's army of empowered young women to the power-drinking party boys who prefer Church and Jason, country's audience is much different than it was 10 years ago and that's reflected in the awards. Church benefited with a leading five nominations, including first-time appearances in the album and male vocalist of the year categories. Album of the year is arguable the CMA's second most prestigious award and it was a win that fit right in with Church's philosophy.

"I still think in this day and time the only way to really get a fan base is you've got to give them more than one chapter of a book," Church said. "They've got to read the whole book."

___

AP writer Kristin M. Hall in Nashville contributed to this report.

___

Online:

http://cmaworld.com

http://abc.go.com/shows/cma-awards

___

For the latest country music news from the Associated Press: http://twitter.com. Follow AP Music Writer Chris Talbott: http://twitter.com/Chris_Talbott.

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Floods render NYC hospitals powerless

NEW YORK (AP) — There are few places in the U.S. where hospitals have put as much thought and money into disaster planning as New York. And yet two of the city's busiest, most important medical centers failed a fundamental test of readiness during Superstorm Sandy this week: They lost power.

Their backup generators failed, or proved inadequate. Nearly 1,000 patients had to be evacuated.

The closures led to dramatic scenes of doctors carrying patients down dark stairwells, nurses operating respirators by hand, and a bucket brigade of National Guard troops hauling fuel to rooftop generators in a vain attempt to keep the electricity on.

Both hospitals, NYU Langone Medical Center and Bellevue Hospital Center, were still trying to figure out exactly what led to the power failures Thursday, but the culprit appeared to be the most common type of flood damage there is: water in the basement.

While both hospitals put their generators on high floors where they could be protected in a flood, other critical components of the backup power system, such as fuel pumps and tanks, remained in basements just a block from the East River.

Both hospitals had fortified that equipment against floods within the past few years, but the water — which rushed with tremendous force — found a way in.

"This reveals to me that we have to be much more imaginative and detail-oriented in our planning to make sure hospitals are as resilient as they need to be," said Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

The problem of unreliable backup electricity at hospitals is nothing new.

Over the first six months of the year, 23 percent of the hospitals inspected by the Joint Commission, a health care facility accreditation group, were found to be out of compliance with standards for backup power and lighting, according to a spokesman.

Power failures crippled New Orleans hospitals after Hurricane Katrina. The backup generator failed at a hospital in Stafford Springs, Conn., after the remnants of Hurricane Irene blew through the state in 2011. Hospitals in Houston were crippled when Tropical Storm Allison flooded their basements and knocked out electrical equipment in 2001.

When the Northeast was hit with a crippling blackout in 2003, the backup power at several of New York City's hospitals failed or performed poorly. Generators malfunctioned or overheated. Fuel ran out too quickly. Even where the backup systems worked, they provided electricity to only some parts of the hospital and left others in the dark.

Afterward, a mayoral task force recommended upgrading testing standards for generators and requiring backup plans for blood banks and health care facilities that provide dialysis treatment.

Alan Aviles, president of New York City's Health and Hospitals Corp., which operates Bellevue, said that after a scare last summer when Hurricane Irene threatened to cause flooding, Bellevue put its basement-level fuel pumps in flood-resistant chambers.

It still isn't clear whether water breached those defenses, but when an estimated 17 million gallons of water rushed through loading docks and into the hospital's 1-million-square-foot basement, the fuel feed to the generators stopped working. The floodwaters also knocked out the hospital's elevators.

For two days, National Guardsmen carried fuel to the generators, but conditions inside the hospital for patients and staff deteriorated anyway. The generators were designed to supply only 30 percent of the usual electrical load at the hospital, leaving a lot of equipment and labs hobbled. The hospital also lost all water pressure on Tuesday. Nearly 700 patients had been evacuated by Thursday afternoon.

"The precautions we had taken to date had served us well," Aviles said. "But Mother Nature can always up the stakes."

NYU Langone Medical Center had also tried to armor itself against floods.

All seven of the generators providing backup power to the parts of the hospital involved in patient care are only a few years old and are on higher floors. The fuel tank is in a watertight vault. New fuel pumps were installed just this year in a pump house upgraded to withstand a high flood, said the hospital's vice president of facilities operation, Richard Cohen.

"The medical center invested quite a bit of money to upgrade the facility," he said.

The pump house remained "bone dry," Cohen said. But water shoved aside plastic and plywood defenses and infiltrated the fuel vault, where sensors detected the potentially damaging liquid and shut the generators down. "The force of the surge that came in was unbelievable. It dislodged our additional protection and caused a breach of the vault as well," Cohen said.

The power at NYU went out in a flash, leaving the staff scrambling to evacuate 300 patients with no notice.

Dr. Robert Berg, an obstetrician, said that when he lost power in his apartment, he went to the hospital to charge his cellphone and was stunned to find it in chaos.

"It didn't really occur to me that the hospital was going to be in trouble," he said. Even after finding the lobby dark, "I thought, 'We'll have power upstairs. We're an operating room.'"

He wound up carrying two patients down flights of stairs on a "med sled."

"There was a Category 1 outside and a Category 4 inside," he said. "I can't say that they were very well prepared for it."

That has left only one hospital, Beth Israel Medical Center, functioning in the southern third of Manhattan. It is also on backup power, but brought in two huge new generators Thursday, just in case.

Aviles said Bellevue might be out of commission for at least two more weeks. NYU Langone's generators are operating again, but the hospital is waiting for Consolidated Edison to restore its power before it starts taking patients again. That could happen in a matter of days.

Flooding may pose less of a danger to the hospital's power supply in the future. Construction is under way on a new power plant, at a cost of more than $200 million, that will run on natural gas and supply all the hospital's power needs.

"It's a tremendous facility, with a lot of hardening built into it," Cohen said.

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AP Medical Writer Mike Stobbe contributed to this report.

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